WASHINGTON (CNN) - Sarah Palin's political action committee violated federal election laws with two donations earlier this year and filed a mid-year report with a number of errors in it, according to the Federal Election Commission.

In a five-page letter to SarahPAC treasurer Tim Crawford, the FEC highlights a number of issues with the filed report, including donating more than is allowed to the reelection campaigns of Sens. John McCain and Lisa Murkowski, as well as not providing proper descriptions on how some of the PAC's money was spent.

Contacted by CNN, Crawford said the committee was currently revising the report to fix the errors and said these types of mistakes are not uncommon with FEC filings.

"A million of these [correction letters] go out every month," Crawford said. "They send out a lot of them.

A spokesman for the FEC said its standard practice for all reports to be reviewed, but would not estimate how many PAC's usually have to file corrections.

Specifically, the FEC notes SarahPAC gave $5,000 to McCain and Murkowski's primary campaigns - $2,600 more than is allowed for a PAC of SarahPAC's designation to give to a primary effort. SarahPAC also designated the donation for the senators' 2009 primary when in fact the primaries are in 2010.

To fix the error, Crawford said the PAC will allocate $2,400 to the senators' primary campaigns and $2,400 to the general election effort as is allowed under election laws. The PAC has also obtained a $200 refund from both campaigns to make up the difference.

"We essentially gave $200 too much," Crawford said. "We have since redesignated with both committees."

Crawford attributed some of the mistakes to being a new PAC and also noted FEC software that was supposed to flag mistakes when reports are initially submitted showed no errors with their filing.

"We filed what we thought was perfectly right," Crawford said. "If there is a violation, the FEC won't accept the report, but ours was accepted with no warnings or violations."

soundoff(301 Responses)

rudy

all i ever hear from the liberals is sarah is basically useless. why then do you feel so compelled to waste your time bad-mouthing her. very hypocritical. why don't you stop wasting your time and forget about her. what exactly are you so scared of?

August 28, 2009 01:27 pm at 1:27 pm |

Mickie

I feel sorry for any of the morons who were stupid enough to donate money to her. She's probably laughing all the way to the bank at how easily duped people are.

She's attractive, but she reminds me of the portrait of Dorian Gray.

August 28, 2009 01:29 pm at 1:29 pm |

Peter E

Who cares? She's a loser and a nobody! Let her go back to the obscurity from whence she came!

August 28, 2009 01:30 pm at 1:30 pm |

hockeybear

Can this woman do anything right??

August 28, 2009 01:30 pm at 1:30 pm |

Steve, New York City

Have people not yet figured out that Palin is clueless?

August 28, 2009 01:31 pm at 1:31 pm |

Chris - Denver

Palin is such a maroon. I will never forgive John McCain for thrusting this person to national prominence.

August 28, 2009 01:31 pm at 1:31 pm |

mjm

"A spokesman for the FEC said its standard practice for all reports to be reviewed, but would not estimate how many PAC's usually have to file corrections."

Oh no! File a correction! It's worse than we thought!

Please CNN keep us informed on everyone who screws up government paper work.

August 28, 2009 01:32 pm at 1:32 pm |

elliott

HA ha ha ha ....keep it up dems.........Your attempts to destroy her are going to backfire.
Can you say vice president Palin ?
Ha ha ha.... she'll be back

August 28, 2009 01:33 pm at 1:33 pm |

Post always rejected by CNN

I hope they let her go and run wild....after all the more she shows her "character" the more people see what kind of republicans are out there....and the also look at the messages the doo-doo republicans post about how wonderful her lying and crookedness is...go to it Sarah, make the republicans proud....they love liars and cheats.

August 28, 2009 01:34 pm at 1:34 pm |

Fran

It doesn't surprise me one bit. As long as you have a person like Sarah Palin running the show, nothing gets done right.

This woman never learns. She should remain at home and mind her business with her family. She doesn't belong in politics much less an organization that doesn't do its job effectively.

August 28, 2009 01:36 pm at 1:36 pm |

dick delson

this woman is beyond dumb. I'm a democrat but was prepared to vote for McCain who I think is an American hero. then he picked her and she opened her mouth to speak and it cost him the election

August 28, 2009 01:36 pm at 1:36 pm |

Patty

In my opinion this is all stage craft. This woman is trying to write a book. About What? She has gone underground to help raise the issue of racism to attempt to defeat the efforts of this administration to even the playing field for all. It is amazing people who have nothing and stand to gain something if healthcare reform, ....etc get in line behind her. She needs something to write about.

August 28, 2009 01:37 pm at 1:37 pm |

Bubba

A MILLION correction letters, really? And why is it news, now that she's no longer a possible future presidential candidate? Y'know, after she quit and all. She's a fool, and surrounded by more of them.

August 28, 2009 01:37 pm at 1:37 pm |

William

In the modern Republican idiom, fraudulent = "error". Who's surprised that Sarah Palin's PAC is no more honest than she is? It's gratifying to watch this lying, cheating, do-nothing bimbo fade slowly into obscurity. She's lucky to get one news cycle per quarter now.

August 28, 2009 01:38 pm at 1:38 pm |

S R Bricco

REALLY

Did we not see this coming. She is just using this to pay for her expences. This is now her new career. We shouldn't sxpect anything less then this

August 28, 2009 01:38 pm at 1:38 pm |

Lee, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Unemployment up......consumer confidence down........Federal deficit up........foreclosures up.............and CNN comes up with an article like this as red meat for the liberals.

The hatred of Sarah Palin is amazing.....she obviously is doing something right to make the libs so mad.

August 28, 2009 01:41 pm at 1:41 pm |

Mathew

I am NOT a Palin support, but I seriously doubt she had much to do with this snafu....some staffer probably prepared the report, she looked at it for 10 seconds, and someone else handled from there. She's responsible for her organization, of course, but the fact that her PAC misfiled paperwork doesn't bother me...its her views on Civil rights, the environment, government responsiblities, her views on education, and her involvement with big oil that bothers me.

The Witch of Wasilla is a continual source of tabloid-like headlines. America dodged a bullet on this one – can you imagine Scary Sarah as VP? Wow! Yeek!

August 28, 2009 01:46 pm at 1:46 pm |

Jim

The Democratic machinery is unrelenting in going after Palin because it is so easy to do. She is incompetent at worst and a lightweight at best.

August 28, 2009 01:46 pm at 1:46 pm |

Andrew

Gotta love the idiot conservatives. Apparently stating a fact and then interviewing the financial manager of the PAC is "left wing liberal bias". Go figure.

August 28, 2009 01:47 pm at 1:47 pm |

Ted

Everything she touches or is related to her turns to manure, ever notice that? When will the GOP dump her?

August 28, 2009 01:48 pm at 1:48 pm |

drbenk

Palin is a legitimate moron. Everything she says and does is tainted with stupidity. No wonder she can't schedule speaking engagements properly or accept donations without screwing up. Anyone fee less safe now that she's not staring towards Russia like a loon?